“Sociable” is the latest commentary on necessary social media developments and trends from industry expert Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today.
So after months of senate hearings, months of legal challenges and years of cybersecurity investigations into the app, the TikTok ban in the U.S. was upheld for about 20 hours.
Today, TikTok has grow to be operational again for many American users, after it was cut off late yesterday in accordance with the U.S. government sell-off bill.
President-elect Trump even gets a direct shout-out in the pop-up notification when Americans open the app, which he’ll little doubt love, because it frames him as the hero.
But to make clear, TikTok is not actually back. Well, it’s not business as usual, no less than.
Over the weekend, the incoming Trump administration has been pushing the firms that facilitate TikTok in the U.S. (i.e. the app stores and the back-end providers), to maintain supporting the app, in violation of the sell-off bill.
As per Trump:
“I’m asking firms to not let TikTok stay dark! I’ll issue an executive order on Monday to increase the time frame before the law’s prohibitions take effect, in order that we are able to make a deal to guard our national security. The order will even confirm that there might be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
Despite Trump’s assurances, Apple and Google have declined to permit TikTok back in their app stores, on account of the risk of going against the legal wording of the bill, which could leave them responsible for financial penalties.
Because as the document states:
“It shall be illegal for an entity to distribute, maintain, or update (or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) a foreign adversary controlled application. An entity that violates subsection (a) shall be subject to pay a civil penalty in an amount to not exceed the amount that results from multiplying $5,000 by the variety of users.”
So it’s pretty clear, the bill is enforced by implementing civil penalties for the providers that enable such, which is what Trump’s asking them to disregard, and saying that he’ll protect them from in the event that they accomplish that.
And while Trump’s assurances haven’t been enough for the app stores, they’re apparently enough for Oracle, which hosts TikTok’s data, and supports the on a regular basis functionality of the app.
Which signifies that TikTok is functional again for many U.S. users who’ve already downloaded the app, however it’s not available to be downloaded by anybody else.
So TikTok’s not exactly back, however it is type of, and folks can use it again.
But it could grow to be a legal minefield in retrospect, with the incoming president effectively advising these providers to violate the law for his own means. And as Trump isn’t actually president yet, he can’t actually offer such assurances, while there’s also an issue as as to whether he’ll actually find a way to increase the time-frame for TikTok to be sold to a U.S. owner in retrospect, after the bill has already been enacted.
It could grow to be a large headache for the Trump team, and for Oracle, which is counting on Trump to put it aside from prosecution. But Trump is confident that he can side-step the law, and in addition arrange a greater deal, which is able to then keep TikTok available in the U.S., while still addressing the concerns raised in the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
Though TikTok, and its Chinese owners, may not have been overly enthusiastic about this element in Trump’s discussion of the app:
“I would love the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a three way partnership. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and permit it to not sleep. Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is value a whole lot of billions of dollars – perhaps trillions.”
So Trump is taking a look at this more as a financial deal than a security concern, which could find yourself seeing TikTok lose a good portion of its local income, for the good thing about a Trump-approved U.S. beneficiary.
And if the U.S. government enacts such a bill, other nations will likely look to implement the same, to ostensibly protect local user data, but additionally glean direct financial, and taxation, profit.
As such, plainly now we have some technique to go yet before TikTok is “back” as such. But it is more likely, overall, that TikTokers won’t have to seek out another solution.
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